Political Quotes

“my amendment affects every State in the Nation--the Bond-Bryan amendment to S. 2549. As co-chair of the Senate Guard Caucus, I firmly believe that this important piece of legislation is critical to meeting the number one priority of the National Guard-- full-time support. As you know, the National Guard relies heavily upon full-time employees to ensure readiness. By performing their critical duties on a daily basis, these hard-working men and women ensure drill and annual training remain focused on preparation for war fighting and conducting peacetime missions. During the cold war, Guard and Reserve forces were underutilized. During the 1980's, for example, they numbered more than one million personnel but contributed support to the active forces at a rate of fewer than 1 million work days per year. At the end of the cold war, force structure and personnel endstrength were drastically cut in all the active services. Almost immediately, the nation discovered that the post-cold-war world is a complex, dangerous, and expensive place. Deployments for contingency operations, peacekeeping missions, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and counter-terrorism operations increased dramatically.”